Most helpful customer reviews

This recording was recently chosen as the best version of this likable work by Gramophone Magazine. Runners up include versions conducted by Britten, Minkowski and King. Both the performance and the recording quality are splendid. Highly recommended.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)

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3 reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

Nice early music discoveryJuly 31 2005

By
J. Oakley
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Audio CD

Trevor Pinnock (conductor and elite harpsichordist) has a playful yet disciplined style that works well for this music. It is a relatively short CD (around 40min, I believe) with a broad arch from playful prelude to meditative finale. I return to it often.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Good, solid perfromance with a quick tempoJan. 24 2009

By
Markian Gooley
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Audio CD
Verified Purchase

Pinnock keeps things moving with a lively tempo that's never too fast: the opening and the march are slow and stately enough, as are the slower, more meditative numbers and the "deaconing" of the chorus by the soprano that starts the finale. The tenor has a few quirks, whether his own or due to Pinnock, notably a huge and almost comical scoop up to the high note of "The trumpet's loud clangor" that pretty much breaks the mood (not a glorification of war but the recognition of its reality, as the words "`tis too late to retreat'" in Dryden's text make clear, and the matter-of-fact tone from tenor and chorus is otherwise spot on). Maybe that's historically authentic, but it's jarring.

ExcellentJune 14 2014

By
Elizabeth H. Lays
- Published on Amazon.com

Format: Audio CD
Verified Purchase

I already have this recording after having heard this live at the Carmel (CA) Bach Festival a couple of years ago. I bought as a gift and the recipient loves it as much as I do.